Central Delhi's rich say no to mobile towers

NEW DELHI: Fear of radiation is leading to mobile towers being shut in the richest localities of central Delhi, a trend that's likely to affect connectivity in the heart of Lutyens Delhi.

On Monday, a mobile tower at Aurangzeb Road was dismantled and operations of two towers at Amrita Shergill Marg were halted, claim cellular operators. With two towers at Tata Sadan to be switched off on February 28, cellular operators say, connectivity is going to be severely affected in this exclusive enclave.

"Four sites (some sites have two towers) are going to get affected in the next few days. Residents of Jor Bagh have also asked for removal of the tower. Due to this, a 4x2km area will be affected,'' said an industry source.

When TOI contacted the resident welfare associations of Jor Bagh and Aurangzeb Road, residents said that they want these towers removed due to radiation hazard. "There are 45 flats in our building. We got a survey done and most owners were of the opinion that we should get the tower removed,'' said a resident who didn't wish to be named.

There are two towers each on Aurangzeb Road and Amrita Shergill Road.

While cellular operators and their associations refused to come on record on the impending connectivity problem, industry sources said that frequent call drops and poor signal strength will be a serious problem from February 28 onwards.

"There are a total of seven sites in the area. Jor Bagh residents are not interested in continuing with the tower there, so it will be removed soon. We just want people to give cellular operators a chance to explain the issue and have a discussion,'' said an industry source.

In Jor Bagh, cellular operators claim that residents are already facing problems related to connectivity, but they still want the tower to be removed. "The owner of a building which has a tower wants it removed. Residents are not pressuring him to let the tower stay,'' said a resident of Jor Bagh.